Stilo ( Calabrian: ; ) is a town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

province of Reggio Calabria The province of Reggio Calabria () was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capital was the city of Reggio. It w ...

, in the

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

region of southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is from Reggio. It is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). The economy of the commune is mainly based on agriculture, with production of cereals,

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

, wine and cheese. There are mines of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

. At from the city is the promontory of Cape Stilo, near where in July 1940 the

Battle of Punta Stilo The Battle of Calabria (9 July 1940) known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the were opposed by vessels of the Mediterranean Fleet. T ...

was fought by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and British navies.

History

The origins of Stilo are connected to the destruction of the ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

colony of

Caulonia Caulonia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria in the Stilaro Valley. Originally it was known as Castelvetere ...

by Dionysius II of Syracuse, followed by another by the

Campanians {{Short description, Ancient Italic tribe The Campanians (also Campani) were an ancient Italic tribe, part of the Osci nation, speaking an Oscan language. Descending from the Apennines, the proto-Osci settled in the areas of present-day Campani ...

(allies of the Romans) in 277 BC.

Main sights

*The ''

Cattolica di Stilo The Cattolica di Stilo is a Byzantine church in the ''comune'' of Stilo ( Province of Reggio), Calabria, southern Italy. It is a national monument, and part of the "Evidence of Italo-Greek Culture between the Early and Late Middle Ages" World Heri ...

'', a 9th-century church in the

Byzantine style Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the ...

*The Shrine of Saint John the Therist ( Diocese of Locri-Gerace) *Church of ''San Domenico'' *Church of ''San Nicola da Tolentino'' *The Norman Castle of

Roger II Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became ...

*The Fountain of the Dolphins Not far from the town is the

monastery of San Giovanni Theristis The Monastery of San Giovanni Theristis (), is an Eastern Orthodox, Orthodox Christian monastery in Bivongi, Calabria (Province of Reggio Calabria, province of Reggio), southern Italy. It is part of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese for Italy. Histor ...

People from Stilo

Tommaso Campanella Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet. Campanella was prosecuted by the Roman Inquisition for he ...

(Philosopher) * Francesco Cozza (Painter)

Gallery

File:Stilo dall'alto da caricare (agosto 2016).jpg, Stilo from the top with church of San Giovanni Theresti (August 2016) File:Stilo vecchio 2 dall'alto 2016.png, Old Stilo from the top (August 2016) File:Stilo vecchio 2 dall'alto con Castello 2016.png, Old Stilo with Norman Castle (August 2016) File:Casa di Tommaso Campanella a Stilo.JPG,

's house at Stilo

References

Castles in Italy Vallata dello Stilaro Borghi più belli d'Italia {{Calabria-geo-stub

History

Main sights

People from Stilo

Gallery

See also

References